Roll for Romance by Lenora Woods
Published by Dell on July 15, 2025
Genres: Romance
Pages: 368
Format: eARC
Source: Netgalley
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Two fledgling tabletop gamers find themselves falling for each other—both in and out of their weekly D&D sessions—in this charming, fantasy-tinged romance.

For years, Sadie Brooks has declined her best friend’s standing invitation to join his Dungeons & Dragons campaign. But when she unexpectedly loses her marketing job and flees New York City to spend the summer with him in small-town Texas, she also runs out of excuses to say no.

In the game, she becomes Jaylie, a powerful and self-assured human cleric blessed by the Goddess of Luck with spells to heal her companions. But in real life, Sadie believes her luck has run out, and she hopes the distraction will give her time to clear her head and plan next steps.

She never expected Noah Walker—the handsome, outgoing bartender roped into joining them—to factor into that plan. Like Sadie, he’s new in town. But with a taste for adventure, Noah never stays in one place for long. He’s something of a traveling bard—just like his character Loren, the charismatic, lute-strumming elf. While Jaylie finds herself succumbing to the bard’s charms over the course of their party’s travels, Sadie also begins to fall under Noah’s spell.

As their relationship progresses in both worlds, Sadie can’t help but wonder if they might last beyond the game. But when a surprising new opportunity opens in New York, she must face the truth about why she lost her job in the first place—and whether she and Noah have found something in Texas worth staying for. Torn between her career dreams in the city and the exciting uncertainty of a new adventure, she will have no choice but to roll the dice.

Read if you like:

• Golden retriever MMCs
• Dungeons and Dragons
• Contemporary romance
• Friends to lovers
• Fantasy vibes
• Found family

My thoughts:

Roll for Romance is a wonderfully unique romance with a loveable cast of characters, adorable romance, and thoroughly entertaining story. Lenora Woods seamlessly weaves together a fun, small-town romance and a fantasy plot worthy of Dungeons and Dragons.

Sadie is a down-on-her-luck New Yorker who decides to spend her summer in Texas with her best friend, Liam. She’ll take some time away to re-evaluate her life and relax. Liam decides it’s the perfect time to introduce her to Dungeons and Dragons as well as some of his Texas friends. One of those friends just happens to be Noah, a ruggedly handsome nomad who is in town for the summer to help his college roommate open a new brewery. Sparks fly, both in the campaign and in real life, and suddenly Sadie’s future is even more hazy than before.

The quirky cast of characters stole the show here. Before I even touch on Sadie and Noah, I have to mention their fellow gamers. Liam is the glue that holds them all together but honestly, he was my least favorite. I loved him but, out of all of them, I feel like he had the least developed personality. As the dungeon master, he called the shots but without an actual character in the game, it made him seem a little flat. Julie and Morgan, on the other hand, were wonderfully developed, both in the campaign and in real life. I loved that Morgan chose to match her DND persona, Morgana, to her real life personality. Julie did the exact opposite with Kain and chose to represent traits she typically hid from the world. Both approaches worked to show off their personalities, in the campaign and out of it. I also adored how they immediately embraced Sadie and the three of them quickly developed a remarkable friendship.

As for Sadie and Noah, I genuinely have no complaints. Sadie is so relatable as a corporate worker who doesn’t necessarily know if she likes her job or if she just sticks with it because she doesn’t know what else she would do. She questions herself constantly and she can sometimes lack faith in herself. None of that changes that she is smart, funny, kind, and extremely capable. Noah is her opposite in so many ways and it totally worked for them. He has major golden retriever energy and it was adorable. He’s a free spirit who holds nothing back. He brings out a different side of Sadie and seems to help mellow her out when she gets too stressed. The two of them worked to balance each other.

The Dungeons and Dragons part of the book was so unique and captured my attention immediately. Lenora Woods has such an immersive storytelling style that it felt like I was in the game right alongside them. You get the best of both worlds with this story; a contemporary romance as well as a little fantasy. Lenora Woods did a great job differentiating between the campaign and real life while also using the campaign to develop the characters and relationships in real life.

Overall, Roll for Romance is a thoroughly adorable story that gamers and newbs (such as myself) alike will love.

TL;DR

Roll for Romance is an adorably quirky romance that gamers and readers alike will adore. Sadie, Noah, and their loveable friend group will have you smiling the whole time. A little contemporary romance, a little fantasy, and a whole lot of fun combine to make this the perfect read.

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